3 Review(s)

Solomon Northup’s autobiography, Twelve Years A Slave, details his life after he was kidnapped and sold into slavery before the Civil War. Summary of the Book Solomon Northrup’s life was shattered when he went on a business trip that turned into a nightmare. He was torn from his family, losing his wife and his three children as he was sold as a slave in what remains one of the worst examples of America’s darkest hours. Solomon is abused, torn physically and mentally over twelve years, experiencing the atrocities of pre-Civil War America first hand. From the slave markets of Washington D.C. to the plantations in Louisiana where slaves cultivated cotton, Solomon portrays the truth behind slavery in America before the Civil War. This story, the story of his life, was adapted into a hit movie in 2013. About Solomon Northrup Solomon Northrup was a free-born African-American from New York. Born to a freed slave and a free woman of colour, he grew up to become a farmer, violinist and landowner in Hebron, New York. He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841 after being tricked to move to Washington D.C., where slavery was still legal. His struggle with slavery and his book have been adapted into an Academy Award winning hit movie in 2013.